A butterfly

Mustard White Butterfly (Pieris oleracea)

I saw this butterfly yesterday while working in my garden spreading old hay around rhubarb and currant bushes. It had probably just emerged from its chrysalis earlier in the morning and was finishing up drying its wings. The butterfly is the Mustard White Butterfly (Pieris oleracea) a species native to North America and occurs in Canada from the Northwest Territories south to Alberta and then east to the Atlantic seaboard. In the US it can be found from North Dakota to Maine.

The green larva with a single white or pale yellow lateral line and small black spots feed on members of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), such as rock cress (Arabis spp., Boechera spp., and Draba spp.), cuckoo flower and bittercress (Cardamine spp.), and toothwort (Dentaria spp.). There are usually two or three generations a summer with the last generation overwintering as a chrysalis.

Adult Mustard White Butterflies come in a spring and summer forms. The one in the photo is the spring form. Summer forms have less dark shading on the wing upper surfaces and the lower surface veins are also less dark. Adults feed on nectar usually from mustard family plants.

Previously Mustard White Butterfly was considered to be in the species Pieris napi, a European species commonly called the Green-veined White. They are regarded as distinct enough to be classed as separate species although some authorities consider the North American P. oleracae to be a subspecies of P. napi (synonym Artogeia napi) calling it Pieris napi subsp. oleracea. P. oleracae differs from P. napi by having chalky white upper wings while P. napi has dark spots and dark margins on the upper wings. Another difference is the tolerance of P. napi for garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) which is toxic to the larvae of P. oleraceae and thus a serious concern for the species survival where this plant occurs in North America to which it is not native.

Taxonomy

Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Pieridae (Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows)
Subfamily Pierinae (Whites)
Tribe Pierini (Cabbage Whites, Checkered Whites, Albatrosses)
Genus/species: Pieris oleracea

SOURCES

Bowden, S. R. (1979). Subspecific Variation in Butterflies: Adaptation and Dissected Polymorphism in Pieris (Artogeia) (Pieridae). Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society
33(2):77-111.

Heinen R., Gols R., and Harvey J. A. (2016). Black and Garlic Mustard Plants Are Highly Suitable for the Development of Two Native Pierid Butterflies. Environmental Entomology, Vol. 45 (3):671–676.

Mustard White (Pieris oleracea) (Harris, 1829) at the Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility website.

Pieris oleracea at the Wikipedia website.

Species Pieris oleracea – Mustard White – Hodges#4195.1 at the Bug Guide website.

Acleris celiana?

These tiny Tortricid moths with white stripes along their wing margins are really confusing me. On Monday I wrote about a moth that didn’t seem to be a close fit with the description for the species Ancylis albacostana which I thought it might be. It was by accident I figured it out. The moth is Acleris celiana and not an Ancylis at all. I was out on my porch Monday night sipping espresso and taking photos of little moths, caddisflies, and some sort of wasp (a species of Ophion I think) when this same kind of moth flew in. I got one shot before it took off and had to wait awhile before it came back and I could get more shots. Later, while going through photos on the Moth Photographers Group (MPG) trying to figure out another species I came across this which looks a lot like the moth I had just found. I have posted the images on Bug Guide and BAMONA and am awaiting comments on the species identity. (Update on 05-29-18: Bug Guide says it is Acleris celiana not Ancylis albacostana.)

Coleman first described Acleris celiana in 1869 under the name Teras celiana. “Anterior wings rich dark chocolate-brown slightly mottled with dark gray. There is a tuft of pale ochreous scales on the center of the disk, and beyond, in the apical portion of the wing a few scattered similarly colored raised scales. Fringes gray.” There is no mention of the white band. However, both Bug Guide and MPG show specimens of Acleris celiana with and without white bands.

Kearfott’s description of Ancylis albacosana reads “Fore wing lead color, rather heavily overlaid on inner two-thirds below the costa (main vein along leading edge of wing) with brownish and blackish scales. From the base to the apex on the costa is a pure white band, widest at end of cell, where it is nearly a quarter the width of wing; continuing to base with only a trifle less width, and lower edge curving evenly into costa and ending in a point at apex.”

I’m leaning strongly towards Acleris celiana on this one. Finding Ancylis albacostana would be great but the species is not, as far as I know, documented from Minnesota although there is at least one record from adjacent Wisconsin.

As for the rest of Monday night’s mothing, I found three more moth species and got a very clean shot of the caddisfly Glyphopsyche irrorata. Two of the moths are in Agonopterix (possibly A. canadensis and A. clemensella) and one is another Acleris (possibly Acleris forbesana). And now it is 10:10 PM Tuesday night and I’m staying up late looking for more moths. So far I have two new ones to figure out.

Glyphopsyche irrorata

Agonopterix canadensis (?)

Agonopterix clemensella (?)

Acleris forbesana (?)

SOURCES

Kearfott, William Dunham (1905). Descriptions of New Species of Tortricid Moths From North Carolina, With Notes. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol. 28: 319-364. Description on page 360.

Robinson, Coleman, T. (1869). Notes on American Tortricidae. Transaction of the American Entomological Society (1867-1877). Vol. 2 (1868/1869):261-288. Description on page 283-284.

Genus Ophion – Short-tailed Ichneumon Wasps at Bug Guide.

Species Acleris celiana – Hodges#3533 at Bug Guide.

620033.00 – 3533 – Acleris celiana – (Robinson, 1869) at Moth Photographers Group.

A caddisfly species

The insect above is a caddisfly and one of many caddisfly species that live in northern Minnesota. Caddisflies (Order Trichoptera) are typically active during the warm months of summer and early fall but this caddisfly was active on the evening of April 25 when air temperatures were in the low 40s. It took me about a couple of days to figure out the species after searching Bug Guide and comparing photos (compare the pattern on the ends of the wings with this) and then doing a literature search. This caddisfly is Glyphopsyche irrorata which is in the Family Limnephilidae and is interesting for a few reasons the first of which is its mode of surviving the winter. Larval G. irrorata live in small ponds such as vernal pools and peatland ponds, shallow marshes, and slow moving streams that may dry up by the end of summer. Many caddisfly species in similar habits lay eggs in gelatinous masses under moist objects in the drying water body where the larvae remain until favorable conditions return. G. irrorata has a different survival strategy. It goes through a rapid larval development after the eggs are laid in May, pupates in August, and emerges as an adult in September. Mating takes place in the autumn and then the adults go into hibernation until the following spring (more mating may take place then) when the females lay eggs in small ponds and slow moving streams. The larvae build cases from bits of organic material and mineral material and are detrivorius shredders feeding on decaying wood and other organic matter.

Another reason G. irrorata is interesting, at least from the standpoint of where this one was found, is that this species has been recorded only twice in Minnesota in 41 years. The first time was in 1977 in Clearwater County and the second was in 2000 in Cook County. This sighting makes the third time and in a new county. Although not on Minnesota’s rare species list it must be uncommon to have only two previous records in the state. This is in spite of several caddisfly surveys conducted in the state in the last 20 years. The range of G. irrorata is Nearctic extending from Newfoundland to Alaska and south to California, in the Great Lakes Region and then east to New Hampshire and Maine. The number of known sites where G. irrorata occurs in Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Maine are few.

G. irrorata is attracted to lights as are many caddisflies. It is also attracted to sweet liquids like maple sap in tapping buckets. Many caddisfly species that fly during the summer are nectar and sap feeders, too. Using a combination of lights and sweet liquids might be a way to attract this species.

Description

The forewings are grayish chocolate-brown with small spots and many larger translucent patches. Length is about 16 mm.

Taxonomy

Order: Trichoptera

Superfamily: Limnephiloidea

Family: Limnephilidae (Northern Caddisflies)

Subfamily: Limnephilinae

Tribe: Chilostigmini

Species: Glyphopsyche irrorata

SOURCES
Berté, Stephen B., and Gordon Pritchard (1983). The Life History of Glyphopsyche Irrorata (Trichoptera, Limnephilidae): A Caddisfly That Overwinters as an Adult. Holarctic Ecology, Vol. 6, No. 1: 69-73. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3682718.

Betten, Cornelius. (1934). The caddis flies or Trichoptera of New York State, Bulletin of the New York State Museum No. 292:1-576.

Chadde, Steve W., Shelly, J. Stephen, Bursik, Robert J., Moseley, Robert K., Evenden, Angela G., Mantas, Maria, Rabe, Fred, and Heide, Bonnie. Peatlands on National Forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains: Ecology and Conservation. 80 pages. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. General Technical Report. RMRS-GTR-11 July 1998.

Houghton, David C. (2012). Biological diversity of the Minnesota caddisflies (Insecta, Trichoptera). ZooKeys, Vol. 189:1-389. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.189.2043.

Houghton, David C., DeWalt, R. Edward, Pytel, Angelica J., Brandin, Constance M., Rogers, Sarah E., Ruiter, David E., Bright, Ethan, Hudson, Patrick L., and Armitage, Brian J. (2017). Updated checklist of the Michigan (USA) caddisflies, with regional and habitat affinities. ZooKeys Vol. 730: 57–74. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.730.21776 http://zookeys.pensoft.net

Majka, Christopher G. (2010). Insects attracted to Maple Sap: Observations from Prince Edward Island, Canada. ZooKeys Vol. 51:73– 83. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.51.478.

Nimmo, Andrew P. ( 1971). The adult Rhyacophilidae and Limnephilidae (Trichoptera) of Alberta and eastern British Columbia and their post–glacial origin. Quaestiones entomologicae, Vol. 7:3-234.

Species Glyphopsyche irrorata at BugGuide.Net.

UNH Insect and Arachnid Collections – Record Detail Glyphopsyche irroata. University of New Hampshire Department of Biological Sciences.

Wiggins, Glenn C. and Parker, Charles R. Caddisflies (Trichoptera) of the Yukon, with Analysis of the Beringian and Holarctic Species of North America, pp. 787-866 in Danks, H. V. and Downes, John A. (Eds.), Insects of the Yukon. Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), Ottawa. 1034 pp. © 1997.